Chapter 803

Feng Rong sat on the throne, and a rhinoceros-horn mirror appeared on his right hand.

This is a treasure mirror polished from the horn of an ancient primordial divine rhinoceros, capable of peering into the Nine Netherworlds, perceiving the nether realm, probing souls, examining bloodlines, with endless wondrous uses.

The palm-sized mottled ancient mirror gave a slight shake toward this Taotie clan expert, and Feng Rong instantly broke into a grin.

"Taotie bloodline?" Feng Rong laughed extremely brightly.

Many years ago, during the period when the Sui Dynasty insisted on the 'human orthodoxy,' any human who possessed an unusual bloodline in their body was slaughtered to the last; clans such as the Taotie and the Qiongqi were likewise wiped out completely.

By the time the Sui Dynasty's high-ranking officials realized their mistake and understood that these so-called 'foreign bloodlines' were merely aberrant manifestations of the complex, vast human bloodline, the people had already been killed off, leaving not a trace of descendants.

The advantages of the Taotie bloodline are known to Feng Rong and his group.

The Taotie clan can devour others' bloodline abilities and transform them into their own bloodline powers; the more they devour and the stronger the targets, the stronger the Taotie clansmen become.

In other words, Taotie clansmen are the ideal template for a 'heavenly deity.'

As long as one is willing to invest the cost, letting Taotie clansmen devour hundreds of the worthless 'inferior gods' of the Sui Dynasty, one can use the deficient Dao, divine abilities, secret arts, bloodlines, etc., within those inferior gods to piece together a complete Dao, divine abilities, secret arts, and bloodline!

Easily, this enables Taotie clansmen to possess over a hundred Daoist principles.

Not to mention heavenly deities, even royal deities can be easily assembled.

"A rare find, seize it!" Feng Rong laughed and waved his hand.

While the Taotie clansman was still shouting and cursing, behind Feng Rong, beside Bai Su Xin, a white-haired grand master of the White Lotus Sect waved his right hand; a wolf-hair brush nearly worn to the nub traced in the air, writing a soaring, vigorous 'mountain' character.

Vast yellow qi surged in the void, and a phantom mountain a hundred zhang square appeared out of nowhere, thudding onto the Taotie expert's body with a 'dong' sound.

Also being a third-level Divine Realm cultivator, the Taotie expert was smashed until blood spurted from his seven orifices, he spat black flames, and before he could even utter a curse, he plummeted straight down from high altitude; the mountain struck him, creating a large pit in the ground.

The sound of breaking bones rang out like popping beans; this unfortunate Taotie expert lay motionless at the mountain's base, unknown how many bones had been shattered, his vitality drained.

"This place is truly a supreme blessed land!" Feng Rong laughed so hard his mouth couldn't close; he stroked the ancient mirror in his hand, its surface trembling, and threads of strange light swiftly shone upon Xi Wu Le and the others.

Strands of extraordinary bloodline aura flickered in the mirror; Feng Rong watched as the mirror revealed the extraordinary spiritual light within Xi Wu Le and the others that represented boundless potential, and he laughed so widely his big teeth gleamed.

"Don't fight, don't fight; if you break, I'll feel heartbroken." Feng Rong laughed loudly: "You, just obediently kneel and surrender? I will grant you glory and wealth, riches and beauties, everything you desire."

"Don't fight, don't fight; if I really beat you to death, the loss will ultimately still be mine, won't it?"

In Feng Rong's heart, he had already regarded Xi Wu Le and the others as his private property.

How could he bear to truly let go and engage in an all-out battle?

Fighting inside one's own home and smashing all the pots and pans—what a tremendous loss!

Xi Wu Le and the others' faces changed abruptly; the Taotie expert who had just made a move, a third-level Divine Realm cultivator, would not be considered weak even in the Fuxi Divine Kingdom, belonging to the core strength of various clans' Divine Realm cultivators.

Anyone casually acting behind Feng Rong could easily suppress him; such power is truly terrifying.

But…

"The Fuxi Divine Kingdom has no tradition of kneeling in surrender!" Xi Wu Le gritted his teeth and roared at the gathered ancestral elders of the various families: "Back then, whether facing the Great Jin, the Great Wei, or the Great Wu… we have never been soft‑egg!"

Including the usually worst‑behaved Four Fiends families, the ancestral elders of the various clans gathered beside Xi Wu Le each glared with murderous intent, clenched their teeth, and continually nodded in agreement with his words.

The Four Fiends families ran rampant and domineering; they were tyrannical in the underworld, and when they faced the three great divine kingdoms of the surface world back then, they were likewise tyrannical.

They are not anything good, but their spines have never softened.

They are vassals of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom, merely vassals, not slaves.

Feng Rong spoke, urging them to kneel and surrender… heh, kneeling and surrendering—these fellows of the Four Fiends families, as well as the chieftains of the major underground tribes, anyone who could carve out a domain in the depths, would you tell them to kneel and surrender?

"Kill them!" Hun Dun's reverse wore a grim face, chuckling sinisterly with a 'keke' laugh.

"Form the array…" Xi Wu Le raised his thunder‑light halberd in hand: "Form the array, kill!"

In the distance, within the mountain ridges' numerous warship berths, great throngs of warships rose into the air.

The warships now in Xi Wu Le's hands are all the Three Kingdoms‑standard warships gifted by Wu Tie; the smallest are a hundred zhang long, medium-sized about three hundred zhang, large ones about six to seven hundred zhang, and the flagship is even over a thousand zhang in length.

Tens of thousands of warships of all sizes surged out from berths in all directions, quickly forming ranks into a volley‑fire warship formation, resembling a square‑shaped wall, slowly advancing toward this side.

Rank after rank of soldiers from the Chonglou Realm, Life Pool Realm, and Womb‑Storage Realm gritted their teeth, stepped on wind and cloud to soar, and coordinated with the ship formation as they advanced toward this side.

Ten‑thousand‑person square formations, hundred‑thousand‑person square formations, million‑person square formations…

Killing qi shot to the heavens, battle intent surged…

On the ground, countless dwarves, little people, and other weak‑war clans' soldiers, though their cultivation insufficient to take flight, wielded various strong bows and crossbows, forming dense ranks just the same.

Among these low‑cultivation soldiers, many more held the rune‑inscribed firearms gifted by Wu Tie.

The power of these rune firearms far exceeds that of ordinary rune bows and crossbows, and their range is much greater; when large numbers of them are formed into a formation, their momentum is also quite imposing.

Feng Rong, Bai Su Xin, together with the Sui Dynasty commanders behind them and the White Lotus Sect masters, all laughed at once.

They could sense the strength of the gathered warships and soldiers.

Bai Su Xin couldn't help shaking his head and sneering: "These warships are somewhat interesting… but do they still think that for large‑scale war implements like warships, bigger size means greater power? Heh, just looking at this, the barbarian lands are barbarian lands; the casting level of these warships falls far short of my White Lotus Sect's."

Indeed, the White Lotus Sect is the Sui Dynasty's greatest academy, and its mastery of the hundred crafts is also the most profound.

The Sui Dynasty's standard warships derive most of their construction techniques from the White Lotus Sect's specialized research institute.

As the headmaster of the White Lotus Sect, Bai Su Xin's vision far exceeds that of ordinary people, having exposure to various arts; he could instantly discern the merits and flaws of the massive sword formation ahead.

Xi Wu Le and Xi Bu Bai also led people to form an array.

Over a thousand Divine Realm experts of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom formed a great array, swiftly drawing in the killing qi amassed from the rear military formations.

Vast qi mechanisms stirred, the heavy profound‑yellow qi roiled across the sky, and a phantom of a man with a serpent's tail and an ancient, simple countenance gradually emerged within the profound‑yellow qi.

"Fuxi clan, the Xi bloodline…" Feng Rong and Bai Su Xin exclaimed in unison: "We've caught a big fish!"

Bai Su Xin added a soft chuckle: "If we can capture enough of the Xi clan's direct line, we can completely negotiate terms with the Nuwa clan… those stubborn old women, humph, really think they can cover the sky with one hand?"

Feng Rong laughed and nodded: "Then we must not strike too heavily."

Bai Su Xin slowly nodded: "Give them a little taste of color, let them know they fundamentally cannot defy our will."

Feng Rong pretended to be dignified as he rose to his feet, standing on the flagship's prow, squinting at the ever‑gathering mighty aura of Xi Wu Le and the others, he flicked his right hand with a light snap: "Well then, let us also form an array, so they can see just how great the gap is between the barbarian lands' formations and my Sui Dynasty's state‑protecting great array!"

A white‑faced elderly eunuch standing beside Feng Rong walked forward with a chuckle, carefully pulling from his bosom a small box carved from a fire‑red gemstone.

Feng Rong took the integrally molded small box, carefully opened its lid, and drew out a dark‑red, thumb‑sized flint.

On the flint shimmering with faint spiritual light, a point of red flame the size of a soybean burned quietly.

It had no great might, no earth-shaking blaze, no wild or overbearing aura spreading unchecked around. This tiny red flame simply burned gently on the flint.

A tiny point of firelight left Xi Wule and the others stunned.

They saw that point of red firelight, and felt that all the negative emotions in their hearts—anger, fear, worry, anxiety, and so on—vanished completely in that instant.

Warm, as if returning to a mother's embrace.

Safe, as if hiding in a thick cavern.

No longer confused, no longer fearful, as if a mysterious strength welled up from their hearts and then swiftly flowed through their whole bodies.

"Our tribe's ancestor, Sui Ren Shi, drilled wood to make fire, illuminating humanity for ages." Feng Rong raised high the flint in his hand and laughed loudly: "The human sage fire, between heaven and earth, is the first spark used by humanity!"

Behind Feng Rong, the million soldiers of the Sui Dynasty's imperial guard shouted in unison.

They looked with utmost reverence at the small flint in Feng Rong's hand, at the tiny flame on the flint.

Strange power surged from the bodies of those guard soldiers, continually gathering toward that flint. The flint's sparkle gradually intensified, the point of firelight on it grew brighter; the soybean-sized flame expanded to the size of a little finger, then a thumb, then a fist.

A wild wind blew between heaven and earth, yet this cluster of firelight remained utterly still.

The fist-sized blaze actually illuminated a radius of tens of thousands of li of void.

In the skies and underground, countless beings who saw this cluster of firelight—whether the Sui Dynasty's so-called 'pure human race' or other human groups manifested from the 'human aberrant' bloodline, even the war beasts and warbirds ridden by those clans' warriors—all stared dumbfounded at the firelight.

Behind Feng Rong, the million guards transformed their formation, stepping on threads of firelight to form a wondrous grand array that encircled the flagship where Feng Rong stood.

From afar, the grand array formed by the Sui Dynasty's million guards looked like a pile of dry firewood stacked together.

And the flagship where Feng Rong was located sat atop the pile of firewood.

The strange energy flowing from the million guards turned into visible pale red streams of light, coiling upward. Gradually, this red light grew stronger; at a glance it looked like a bundle of firewood burning.

The point of firelight in Feng Rong's hand kept swelling; gradually, this warm, utterly non‑overbearing flame expanded to a size of several li, its blaze sufficient to illuminate a radius of millions of li of void.

The red firelight flickered, and gradually Xi Wule and the others felt their hearts become peaceful; facing Feng Rong, they could not muster the intention to attack.

Soon, the ancestors of the Four Ferocious Families, whose ferocious aura had been etched into their marrow, roared in unison, angrily bellowing: "This fire is strange… don't look at it, charge up and kill them!"

They saw that the Sui Dynasty's million guards were all sitting cross-legged in the void, each with a smile, devoutly gazing at that cluster of firelight.

These guards had made no battle preparations at all; they hadn't even drawn their swords or spears, just sitting there quietly.

This was the perfect moment for a surprise attack.

The howls of the Four Ferocious Families' ancestors also woke Xi Wule and the others; they steadied their minds, readied their spirits, gritted their teeth, gripped their weapons, and continued charging toward Feng Rong.

"Kill!" Xi Wule roared.

Xi Wule's roar startled all the warriors of the Fuxi Divine State present—whether the state's own elite troops or the allied tribal reinforcements—and they all shouted in unison along with him.

Behind them, the gunports of tens of thousands of standard warships lit up, ready to launch an attack on the flagship where Feng Rong was.

At that moment, the million Sui Dynasty guard soldiers all bit their tongues, each spouting a drop of essence blood, which flew like birds into the forest and entered the cluster of firelight in Feng Rong's hand.

Gentle rings of red firelight sprayed from that flame cluster, gently sweeping across the void, the earth, and the bodies of Xi Wule and the others.

All beings present felt their bodies warm and soft, with a resonant "ding ling" sound continually ringing; countless warriors could not hold their swords, spears, and halberds, and countless weapons fell to the ground.

Where the firelight passed.

Any weapon forged by humanity, any device made by humanity, any artificial object—all shattered.

Those swords, those spears, those swords, those cannons… and even those massive warships, as well as the various battle robes and armor glittering with spiritual light—all shattered, turning into tiny points of light that returned to heaven and earth.

"Without fire, how could humanity possibly develop civilization?"

"This is what you owe my ancestor Sui Ren Shi…"

"My Sui Dynasty's national protection grand formation, the Sui Fire Grand Formation… hahaha, any device forged with fire returns to its origin; any of you who have eaten food cooked with fire or boiled soup… under the light of my Sui fire, you will have no fighting strength whatsoever!"

Feng Rong held up the small flint, holding the great Sui fire, and laughed triumphantly: "Come, seize these people, seal their magic, and capture them alive!"

"Be careful, don't hurt them… they are all my property."